Thursday, January 17, 2013

Canadian Savers: There’s No Party like a Twitter Party

This article was written by Florence Hayes on behalf of Canadian Savers.

Looking for free stuff? Couponing is one thing, but receiving great products for free is another! Everything from gift cards, shopping sprees and electronics are given away almost every day on Twitter.

First off, what is a Twitter party? It’s an online,
live discussion of the product, brand or group hosting the party. People
participate by answering questions, playing trivia games, or simply discussing
a specified topic. Participants will be eligible for any prizes or gifts being
offered by the host (usually a blogger, company representative, or both).

Sign up for a Twitter account and use it. Twitter is a little strange at first, but
once you get the hang of it, it’ll be like second nature. It does taking some
‘doing.’ Post tweets to your timeline. Follow friends, retail bloggers, party
hosts and companies to learn about upcoming events and parties. It’s usually a
good idea to follow party hosts to learn about changes to scheduled Twitter
parties, as well.

So, you want to party, but not sure where to go? Visit TweeParties.com to find them! This is one great source for locating Twitter parties. Not only will you find all of the details here (such as the #hashtag and rules), but if the party you're interested in is region specific. Some parties, for example, are exclusive only to the U.S.

It's going to take some time to get used to the fast-paced environment of the common Twitter party. Don't give up! There can be over a hundred people (on some we've seen thousands) tweeting and everything can go pretty fast. After a few parties, you should get the hang of it. Just remember to follow the host's #hashtag, and consider downloading a Twitter aggregator. This will condense a specified Twitter account's tweets, essentially isolating their tweets from the hundreds that will pop up on the screen. This can be quite helpful since only the host's tweets are truly essential. There are several free aggregators out there, but Tweet Chat and Twitter Deck are highly recommended (Tweet Chat is for novice Twitter users).

So, the next time you sit down to watch your
favorite evening program, fire up the iPad or laptop and partake in a Twitter
party. Answering a bit of trivia could reward you with free prize packs, gift
cards and other products. All it takes is a Twitter account and an hour or two
a night while you watch television!